Ryan Gerard, an American golfer competing at The Open at Royal Birkdale, has revealed that he has been mistaken for Liverpool football legend Steven Gerrard by local children. Despite the different spelling of their surnames, Gerard has been subjected to chants and good-natured ribbing from young fans who spot 'Gerard' on the leaderboard.
Gerard laughs off comparisons
Speaking after his third round, Gerard said: "I think some of the kids think I am Steven Gerrard. It's like a Tony Romo situation, played football and then tried to play professional golf." He added that the crowd's reaction has been entertaining: "Yeah, there's quite a few songs. I think some of them I can't repeat. The lads were out in full force today. It's nice to know I'm probably the most hated person in Manchester, and I'm glad we're in Liverpool. It's been a lot of fun."
Gerard, however, has refrained from signing autographs as Steven Gerrard, clarifying: "No, I'm signing Ryan. Maybe I need to work on my Steven signing. A bunch of little kids think I'm Steven Gerrard, so it's okay."
Strong performance on the course
Gerard is tied for fourth on the leaderboard after shooting a third-round 69, following scores of 67 on Thursday and Friday. Reflecting on his round, he noted the challenging conditions: "I think 62 was a ridiculously good score given some of those pin placements. Wind kind of picked up at some point, but kind of stayed strong throughout the day. Conditions got firm. The margin between good shot and bad shot got increasingly thin."
He continued: "Didn't really hit too many quality shots on the front and kind of just hung tough, stuck to the strategy, kind of stayed patient, and finally got a putt to go in on 13. I was able to get one up-and-down on 14 and turned kind of a weird one into something positive in the round. Pleased with how we kind of stayed poised all day."
Course conditions expected to remain firm
Looking ahead to the final round, Gerard predicted that the fairways would not become significantly faster: "I think the fairways are kind of maxed out on how fast they're running. I don't think they're going to start releasing too much more. You could kind of see a difference maybe Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, but once it hits a certain point, I think they're not really going to get any more brown. I think it's as brown as brown gets. The ball is going to roll as far as it rolls and that's kind of going to be that in the fairways."
